TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2024
Skidmarks in methland dismissed: Why did Lori Mosura, age 55, decide to vote for Candidate Trump after all these years?
We can't exactly tell you. In a recent report for the Washington Post, Tim Craig offered this limited explanation:
After backing Trump, low-income voters hope he doesn’t slash their benefits
Lori Mosura goes to the grocery store on a bicycle because she can’t afford to fix her Ford F-150 truck.
The single mother and her 17-year-old son live in an apartment that is so small she sleeps in the dining room. They receive $1,200 each month in food stamps and Social Security benefits but still come up short. Mosura said she often must decide whether to buy milk or toilet paper.
It was all that penny-pinching that drove the part-time tax consultant to abandon the Democratic Party this fall and vote for Donald Trump.
According to Craig's account, it was "all that penny-pinching" which turned Mosura into a Trump voter—and into a registered Republican at the age of 55. Given the apparent state of the final vote count, Mosura joined 77.3 million others in deciding to vote as she did.
We voted the other way ourselves. It never crossed our minds to vote for Candidate Trump.
That said, we can think of a million reasons why a decent person might have decided to vote for Trump—or might have decided to vote against Candidate Biden, and/or against Candidate Harris, his successor when he finally left the race of late July.
In our view, the Democratic Party did in fact stage a clown show over the course of the past several years. We'll always be the first to admit that no one else will ever be as smart, or as morally decent, as we Democratic voters are. But we can think of a million reasons why a person like Mosura might have decided to bail on the Dems this year.
Many people in Blue America can't seem to think of a single reason why a voter might have done that. This moral and intellectual blindness strikes us as one of the major facts about our failing civilization to emerge from the carnage this year.
More than 77 million people chose to vote for Candidate Trump. Lori Mosura, age 55, was one of the 77.
When Craig reported that Mosura had voted that way, other voters attacked. These attacks were launched in a series of strikes from deep inside our own Blue America.
They tell a story about us the humans. But they also tell a certain long-standing story about our own Blue America, such as it actually is.
In his report for the Post, Craig made only a glancing attempt to explain Mosura's vote for Trump. In his report, he mainly focused on statements by four lower-income voters, Mosura included, who said they don't believe that the reinstated President Trump will act against the interests of lower-income people like them.
We can't tell you how that will turn out. But when we read about Mosura's situation, this one thought came to mind.
Life for her ain't been no crystal stair.
Life for her [and for her 17-year-old son] ain't been no crystal stair! Elsewhere, other voters in Blue America seemed to have different reactions.
Kevin Drum had offered a perfectly sensible post about Tim Craig's report. "The delusion here is painful," he said—and that assessment may well turn out to be accurate.
Then the hounds from Hell got busy, offering comments from Blue America's zone in the netherworld. Life for her ain't been no crystal stair? This was the first commenter's reaction to Mosura's plight:
FIRST COMMENTER: Let 'em suffer and die. I'm long out of give-a-damn for these yokels.
[...]
At some point one has to concede that the sub-room temperature (in Celsius) IQ contingent needs to be culled from the herd.
Mosura needs to be culled from the herd. So the very first commenter said. His comment provoked this response:
FIRST RESPONDER: I'm not for anyone dying, but it does seem these people need to experience some the "pain and sacrifice" that co-president Musk says is coming.
[...]
I expect to be hurt, but as a retired upper middle class white male in a solidly blue state I expect I will do a lot better than the sad deplorables in New Castle.
There we went again! To this initial responder, Mosura is a sad deplorable.
So it was said by two (2) of us here in our own Blue America. Along the way, Commenter One added this:
FIRST COMMENTER: I'm fully in touch with my inner Scrooge 1.0. Let 'em die and decrease the surplus population. Any pain and/or sacrifice will be blamed on the Democrats and these skidmarks will believe it.
So we the finer people now said. Mosura was now seen as a skidmark who needs to be culled from the herd.
Why might people have voted for Candidate Trump? We can think of a million reasons, these two commenters possibly numbered among them.
That said, these first two Harris voters were hardly alone. From the heart of darkness in our own Blue America, this brand of comment continued:
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER ONE: The fault is primarily on stupid and supremely ignorant voters like the ones described here. With a big assist to the prestige media who have been unrelenting negative in their coverage of Democrats for decades.
[...]
The most appropriate comment I could make is to quote my favorite line from the great character actor Strother Martin: "Morons. I've got morons on my team."
Truthfully, that came from the milder stream of Blue American comments. Other moral and intellectual giants offered such astonishing comments as this
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER TWO: The lack of self-awareness here is infuriating. Hope they get exactly what they voted for, good and hard.
[...]
Some children will not listen to wise advice from others and need to actually touch the hot stove to learn that it burns. Some adults apparently never left childhood. Democrats need to let them get burned, and maybe some of them will learn a lesson.
That commenter hopes that Mosura, and her son, "get it good and hard." Messaging from the heart of darkness, other Blues agreed:
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER THREE: I see some serious FAFO [delivery of what they deserve] coming for those who voted for Trump. Of course you need a functioning brain to notice, so they won't ever know or understand the truth. But they are going to be hurt—bad.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER FOUR: Republican voters have been fucking around for 40+ years, and the only thing that is going to change their minds is letting them find the fuck out. I am 100% OK with this.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER FIVE: The person in my life who is my moral arbiter (an ISFP) would hate to hear me say this, but do you really want these guys on your team? Even the Bible says that not everyone can be saved.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER SIX: Highly educated elitists, like the rest of us, sneer at the "word salads" tossed out by folks like the Felon and Sara Palin, as lacking in "coherency" and "logical consistency." Their flocks don't care about those things! They just pick out the tasty nuggets that they like best and swallow them whole.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER SEVEN: They really are not worthy of my compassion, concern or charity. If the social safety net and benefits fail to garner political support of the beneficiaries, then perhaps it is time to let Republicans cut them.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER EIGHT: How can you persuade people who say things like [this]?..."Mosura, 55, said on a recent afternoon. 'I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us.'” You can't. Delusions like this are impossible to argue with. Their idea of who Trump is is nothing like what he really is. I'd like to think they'll realize this sooner or later, but delusions this strong aren't easily broken.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER NINE: There is no help for the ignorant delusional I’m afraid.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER TEN: So many here in favor of letting these idiots get it good and hard. But these idiots will never get it. However hard it gets, it will only justify their resentment of anyone they think isn't getting it as hard as they are, and then they'll vote for whoever gives them confidence in their opinion, especially someone who sounds as informed as they are and whose detailed thought is mostly insult and vulgarity.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER ELEVEN: I have no explanation for the stupidity of these people beyond the monopoly that Fox and AM hate radio have in methland, and the inexplicable identification with Trump as "one of us."
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER TWELVE: They hear "Fuck immigrants and trans people!" and think "I'm gonna help poor white people!" These people are so goddamn fleecable, your head spins.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER THIRTEEN: Some people are just morons completely unreachable by any kind of message, policy, or fact. Each one of these idiots deserves every bit of pain and suffering Trump inflicts on them. The only downside is that because of their stupidity, the pain and suffering will be inflicted on everyone and not just them.
So the Blue comments proceeded. According to Commenter 11, Mosura is living in methland!
Eventually, this exchange occurred. Over here in our own methland, this is frequently all we have:
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER FOURTEEN: This prompts me to ask a question that I asked myself so many times: why did these people really vote for Trump? Nothing Trump says or does supports the beliefs they express, but they want to believe it very badly. What is motivating that reasoning? I just wonder. Probably version of cognitive dissonance, but I still can't figure it out
RESPONDER: Racism. He gives them permission to say out loud what they really think, and he's going to keep the negroes in their place.
Eventually, we Blues tend to end up here, in comment threads and on cable. As she rides her bicycle to the grocery story, Lori Mosura, age 55, is dreaming of the way Donald J. Trump will be keeping the negroes in their place.
Along the way, the occasional flashes of decency surfaced. One commenter offered this
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: ...So how should I feel when I see people like the ones in the linked article have their lives crushed by Trump’s policies? Schadenfreude? Should I smirk and say, “I told you so?" It is tempting, I admit. But in the end that would make me just another Trumpian asshole, wouldn’t it? So I’ll continue to follow my liberal beliefs and oppose Trump and his MAGAts. And I’ll hope that those who voted for him don’t suffer in the same way I hope others who make what I think are bad choices don’t suffer. And I will support liberal policies that will help the people Trump hurts.
So one commenter said, though he couldn't resist the play on words which seemed to have him referring to Trump's unspecified assortment of "maggots."
That commenter will continue to support "liberal policies." He explicitly hopes that Donald Trump's voters won't suffer.
With respect to those liberal policies, one other commenter offered what was possibly the most intriguing comment of all:
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: Forget the triumphalism. As they say, some people never learn. Don't call for suffering. It just debases the intelligence that much further. Rather, call for the MSM to translate something as wonderful as Bidenomics into the terms it has earned of accomplishment and hope.
[...]
It's not just that some people's understanding has failed. It's that disinformation has succeeded.
It's certainly true that disinformation (and misinformation) have succeeded. But disinformation (and misperception) may adapt a wide array of forms.
"Some people's understanding has failed!" So the commenter said.
Also, this commenter wants the mainstream press (remember them?) to deal more successfully with "something as wonderful as Bidenomics." As she rides her bike to the grocery store, that's what Mosura should be thinking.
In our view, our own Blue American world is currently full of delusions. But our own Blue America is also prone to tribal hatred and to otherization.
Are we humans wired for this kind of work? On Thursday, we'll suggest the possible problem with that assessment concerning the wonders of Bidenomics.
At any rate, Craig had interviewed four lower-income voters in one lower-income town. When he did, quite a few voters in Blue America decided it was time to attack.
Lori Mosura's a skidmark, they said. She needs to be culled from the herd!
On Thursday: Delusion can be where you find it
If you can't trust a guy who defrauded a children's cancer charity, who can you trust?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for why Trump voters threw a temper tantrum when black people's votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential election, but didn't make a peep when Trump gave that huge tax break to the rich and corporations.
ReplyDeleteSomerby will probably get around to explaining it sometime in 2029.
Stay tuned.
Pride is a deadly sin. Can we return to humility? Something that says, “Although I think I’m right, it’s possible that I might be wrong and Trump might be right.”
ReplyDeleteTrump is the embodiment of pride. And most of the other deadly sins as well.
DeleteThe commenter's indignation leads them to embody the very issues they criticize: closed-mindedness, irrationality, an authoritarian call for punitive justice, a lack of compassion for people who are struggling, and an intolerance of others.
DeleteI think you are seeing 1.a frustrated lack of power in many parts of their lives - combined with 2. groupthink - and maybe 3) anonymity - that leads these people off the reservation of the sane and into the land of madness where they abandon their values for ignorance, irrationality and counterproductive fantasies of violence and retribution.
I agree and I do ask myself "am I wrong"? And I always try to concede on at least some point that I can agree with. However, I rarely see the same consideration from the other side. Do Trump supporters and Republicans think to themselves "can I be wrong here" or "is there some idea or policy position on the other side that I can get behind?" And Trump is the worst of them. The guy never admits that someone else may be right.
DeletePerhaps start by questioning your own assumptions presented here.
DeleteGood point, @11:44. Trumpists are full of pride. Trump himself may be the least modest person on earth.
DeleteOne slight quibble: Trump never admits that somebody else might be right, but that's true of pretty much all politicians. I think that's because in our tribal system, admitting error would be punished.
It’s pretty clear that admitting you’re wrong is a turn off for Republicans, and not admitting you’re ever wrong is a turn off for Dems.
DeleteLots of politicians admit somebody else might be right. But they don't admit that about people who they think are wrong. Agreeing with others is the basis for alliances and support for bills. Politicians work together on issues all the time.
DeleteWhat many have long known, and many Dems are waking up to, is: you give a right winger/Republican an inch and they always take a mile.
DeleteTrump/Republicans agree with, ally with, work together with, neo Nazis, White Supremacists, Christian Nationalists, totalitarians, authoritarians, oligarchs, etc. They do not tolerate anything other than blind loyalty.
Compromising or acquiescing or capitulating to such folks seems a bit ill-advised.
Somerby’s main takeaway from Trump’s election and Mosura’s sketchy story is that he is smarter than Republican voters. Republican voters have their “millions” of reasons but Somerby saw through all that and voted for Harris.
ReplyDeleteOk, so what? That’s supposed to be some kind of analysis? Brother, please.
With one of the worst strawmans of the year Somerby unironically types this:
“Many people in Blue America can't seem to think of a single reason why a voter might have done that.”
Somerby is desperate to scold the Dems (quote mining some perfectly reasonable venting), yet Somerby is quite clear: Republicans have millions of reasons, all illegitimate, because Somerby is smarter than those dumb voters and voted for Harris.
Say what you will about our Little Hitler Therapy Circle but at least it's not an ethos.
DeleteIt isn't clear that the people Somerby labels as Blue America are actually Democrats or Blue at all. One merely says he lives in a blue state, but CA, one of the bluest of states, still has many Trump voters, especially in central and rural areas of the state. So why does Somerby assume that guy is a blue commenter just because he says he lives in a blue state? Others give even fewer clues to their possible political affiliations. Somerby calls them all blue.
DeleteThe unwitting subtext of Somerby is that Republicans lack integrity, and that they view that as a positive.
DeleteBlue America’s frustration with Red America is understandable since Blue America provides the labor that Red America lives off of, feeds off of, while Red America lazes around in their McMansions and trailer parks high on Fox News and meth.
ReplyDeleteRed America is a manifestation of the generational wealth and the generational poverty that props them up, that is foundational and fundamental to our warped society.
DeleteI think we could all use a little more compassion and empathy these days, so I hate to hit someone when they are down and when I don't know the whole story, but i have to say: 1) single mom, where is dad, 2) part time tax consultant, what does that even mean? and if it isn't enough to pay the bills maybe she should start looking for a different line of work, and preferably full time, 3) I am sure there are vehicles out there that are less expensive than a ford F150, 4) maybe the child can get a part time job and help out. A lot of people in this country have tossed the idea of personal responsibility. And if you can't afford a certain car or cell phone or whatever, get something cheaper. Too many are living beyond their means and then blaming the government when they live paycheck to paycheck and don't have $500 to cover an emergency.
ReplyDeleteThese can be Harris's talking points for 2028!
DeleteI suspect the woman is living on disability and has health issues that may prevent her from working. That makes her atypical. The reporter should have explained her situation, but it still doesn't tell us why she thinks Trump would do anything to help her when that is far from his own past actions and current campaign promises. It is magical thinking, a fantasy about Trump solving all of her problems.
Delete"2) part time tax consultant, what does that even mean?"
DeleteThat's a relevant question. I am also curious.
Fom AI: “ A tax consultant provides tax advice and support to individuals, businesses, and organizations on various tax issues. Their work typically involves preparing and submitting tax returns, researching tax laws, advising on tax planning, and representing clients in disputes with the tax authorities.”
DeleteShe may work for H&R Block during tax season.
I think you may be right.
DeleteFord F-150s cost between $40k-80k.
ReplyDeleteThey ain’t cheap, just sayin’.
Mosura could have bought an all electric F-150, and not have to, supposedly, worry about paying to fix it since EV’s are essentially maintenance free.
Or she could have bought a cheap used sedan/EV for a few grand. Why does a “tax consultant” need a pickup truck in a dying small town outside Pittsburgh?
New Castle thrived after getting a boost from FDR’s New Deal, but is now a poor and dying town. Notably, to get a flavor of the town’s culture, local White income is nearly half the national average, but it is 66% higher than local Black income.
This is what the right wing American Dream has always been about: most Whites will get crumbs from the wealthy ruling class, but it’ll be more crumbs than people of color/women get.
DeleteI don't think the article gave the age of the truck. The F-150 has been in production for many years. Perhaps the woman bought it used or acquired it when someone else died. The cost of a new truck isn't relevant.
DeleteWhen we owned an old F-150, random people would regularly offer to buy it, just parked in front of the house. Perhaps her town is too small to have that happen, but why keep a truck you cannot use, when the money from selling it could be used for necessities? If the truck is paid for, she might get a small loan against it to pay for the repairs.
Delete
ReplyDelete"Why did Lori Mosura, age 55, decide to vote for Candidate Trump after all these years?"
That's because everyone hates the Democrat party, and wants it out of the government.
This has been another installment of simple answers to stupid questions.
Everyone? This is the stupidest comment of the day, so far.
DeleteMany things are wrong in Lori Mosura's life. This is only one of them. How does Somerby expect people who cannot solve their life problems to make good choices at the polls? It is unreasonable to believe that any good reasons for voting for Trump will be found among people who have demonstrated that they cannot cope in their own lives. Somerby is an idiot, but so is the guy who wrote the article.
Trump only got 30% of the electorate, even in a low turnout election for Dems Trump could not manage to get 50% of those that voted, and more people voted for other candidates than the popular vote winner - Trump got less votes than the aggregate vote of the other candidates.
ReplyDeleteTrump voters are a minority that have seized power, enabled in large part due to servile centrists like our favorite bloggers who put their thumbs on the scale and push a narrative that they personally benefit from (emotionally, monetarily), to the detriment of society.
Somerby and/or the journalists involved, selected an array of particularly mean-spirited remarks about four Trump voters (formerly Democrats). Somerby only describes one of them here, which leaves me wondering about the other three. I have sympathy for these supposedly blue voters who are reviling the ignorance that led anyone to vote for Trump. Trump's actions are going to hurt all of us, and it is natural for anyone to lash out at whoever or whatever they think is hurting them. These four voters did something that hurts everyone, out of inexplicable reasoning and obvious ignorance. But they have the right to vote however they want.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any of the good reasons Somerby promised to tell us, especially in Mosura's story (why did Somerby single her out?). They could as easily have superimposed hopes onto Harris, but for some reason believe Trump instead. Perhaps that is what we can blame the media for -- creating an image that conceals the demented charlatan and makes Trump seem like a believable savior when he isn't anything close to that. In other words, lying to poor people who apparently don't know any better than to vote for someone like Trump.
But those voters are also to blame. They have a civic responsibility that they abandoned in order to pursue their own fantasies of rescue from their lives. Trump can't do that, and he wouldn't even if he could. He doesn't care about these poor people. The angry frustration of blue voters is not a lack of empathy. It is desperation, as surely as the misguided votes of these four were desperate. Somerby pretends to understand that, but he is just here today to revile the blues for their comments. Kicking downward at those of us who are upset that Trump won (which includes all blue voters).
But that is what Somerby is like. He has never had empathy for Democrats or liberals. That isn't his role here. Are these Trump voters stupid and pathetic. You bet they are! Every single one of them, including Musk and Gaetz and Vance and McConnell and Lindsey Graham (who cannot live an authetic life). All pathetic. But that doesn't solve the problem, which is what do we do about Trump to minimize the damage he will do? Somerby has no answers. He is too busy name-calling the left and pretending that these red voters are not stupid, whatever else they may be.
Ignorance ain’t going to manufacture itself.
ReplyDeleteThis article in the Wash Post is behind a pay wall. I am not going to pay any money to argue with Somerby. If he won't present the full picture, he IS cooking the books and putting his thumb on the scale. I want to know why everyone picking on Mosura and not the other three cretins who voted for Trump. Somerby has singled her out. Why? Did blue commenters say nice things about the other three -- might that have presented a more balanced view of blue commenters than Somerby wishes to project today (and yesterday)? It is hard to know when Somerby doesn't tell us and we cannot look for ourselves without spending money on a useful and silly discussion.
ReplyDeleteIf Somerby proves that blue voters can say ugly things, does that justify anyone voting for Trump? Does that make it reasonable to elect the least qualified person in our history, after he already served a term as the worst president ever (according to historians)? What does Somerby gain by portraying blue commenters as jerks? Does it make Harris less qualified or Musk less of an idiot or does it mean we should be happy to have billionaires running our government in Jan? Of all the things Somerby could have been discussing today, he picks this, again! Just to make blue voters seem like bad people. And that makes Somerby an asshole. And no, I am not Corby.
typo: useless and silly
DeleteCome January, sexual predators and snake oil salesmen can now sit at the cool kids’ table.
Delete@Anon 12:37
DeleteTry this gift article link: https://wapo.st/3BNQsUQ
It still wants me to create an account, which I would prefer not to do. Thanks for the effort though.
DeleteGood to know. I wasn't aware they did that.
DeleteI agree with Bob’s headline: Mosura should get it, good and hard.
ReplyDeleteWhy should she be any exception to what is going to happen to the rest of us?
DeleteTrump is going to worsen plutocracy. That means the people poor enough to worry about food prices are going to suffer a lot more than people who don't.
DeleteThose photos of Trump supporters wearing adult diapers outside their clothing in support of Trump (Real Men Wear Diapers they said) remind me that the reference to skidmarks may be literal. The very least you can say about these Trump voters is that they are incompetent in a variety of ways. Because of them, great harm will be done to all of us. I think they bear a major share of the responsibility for what Trump does now that he is back in office. Good intentions are no excuse for bad outcomes.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMy supply of delicious word-salads is inexhaustible!
I am Corby.
And yet you can only manage a sentence or two at a time.
DeleteI voted for Trump because he was willing to demonstrate, even in front of children, how to fellate a man.
ReplyDeleteTrump puts the “demon” in “demonstrate”.
DeleteRemember the cognitive test that Trump supposedly aced? This past election was a similar but real life cognitive test. If you voted for Trump, then you are not cognitively sound. There is something majorly wrong with your thinking. And no, a handful of selected poor people who switched to Trump do not have good reasons for doing that. They flunked the Trump test too.
ReplyDelete“This is Trump’s America now”.
ReplyDelete-Republican voter that the other day tried to choke out a news reporter that happened to be a person of color
How Stupid Are You? asks Don Lemon
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/don-lemon-2670705271/
Somerby will get around to this in a day or two. Lemon is one of his favorite targets, being both black and gay and a former host on CNN.
Somerby: I got nothing.
ReplyDeleteEveryone else with two or more brain cells: We know!
Everyone else with two or fewer brain cells: “We say Somerby’s got nothing, but we’ll read him every single day anyway!”
DeleteIt’s a free country, for a while anyway.
DeleteExactly. It’s free to read this blog. You’d think that a basic decency and gratitude would lead readers to be slow to insult Somerby with every vile name they can think of.
DeleteDoes Lori Masura have a gofundme page? She should be capitalizing on her fame, like all good Republicans do. Let's show what big hearts blue commenters have by sending some money her way to buy her a new bicycle or a new F-150. She has apparently been unsubtle about her needs, according to the reporter. For God's sake, will someone buy that poor woman a sleeping bag to put under her dining room table?
ReplyDeleteCA is offering a $2k rebate for purchasing an electric bicycle.
DeleteMosura seems fine with cutting off her nose to spite her face.
This blog is dying, due to the author’s poor thinking.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Borowitz Report:
ReplyDelete"As we remember Jimmy Carter, let’s also take a moment to remember what a ginormous dick Ronald Reagan was.
On October 28, 1980, the two men faced off in a televised debate, in which Reagan delivered his zinger for the ages, “There you go again.”
But Reagan’s knockout punch was hardly as spontaneous as it appeared. He had rehearsed it ahead of time, knowing exactly what Carter planned to say. How did he know? His campaign had stolen a copy of Carter’s debate briefing book.
When Americans elected Carter in 1976, they chose a man who pledged never to lie to them. He was a refreshing response to the cesspool of Republican lying typified by Watergate. By electing Reagan in 1980, Americans returned to the cesspool.
Forty-four years later, we find ourselves back in that cesspool yet again—and looking for an honest person like Jimmy Carter to lead us someplace better."
Somerby doesn't like it when liberals point out that we are more virtuous in various ways than Republicans, especially Trump, the MAGAs and Musk and the rest of Trump's hangers on. He calls us arrogant or sanctimonious for preferring truth to lies or positivity to doom and gloom, or honesty to grifting. I do not believe anyone can be a good decent person while choosing a liar as President, not to mention a rapist convict who has openly allied himself with Putin, the enemy of our country. Just as Somerby considers any goodness on the left as an affront to his own indecency, the media cannot wait to trash Jimmy Carter, whose manifest accomplishments seem to be an affront to them all, as it should be. But reacting by tearing him down just makes it more obvious that the right knows it is doing wrong but does it anyway. Just as Somerby knows the left is morally superior to the right, but won't admit it and pretends we are doing something wrong by having values missing on the right.
Somerby is echoing the suggestion among some in the mainstream media that the left not gloat about MAGA problems, now that they are getting what they deserve from Musk and Trump. This news article seems like more of the same. The problem is that the right has brought this on themselves, but also that the right showed no concern or empathy when the left was complaining about Trump's actions:
ReplyDelete" MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown has noticed a good deal of schadenfreude about these reports from Trump critics — but he's urging people on the left to resist the temptation to relish MAGA fans' misery.
First of all, it’s MSNBC, so there’s that. The theme now dominating mainstream media is a) capitulation and b) sucking up. Now at least some of them are urging people on the left to resist the temptation to exhibit schadenfreude.
Going out on a limb here, but that’s gonna be a hard sell.
This is the “fuck your feelings” crowd as most of us, but not the MSM obviously, recall. They do not deserve one ounce of pity from anyone if and when their world goes to shit at the hands of the orange menace they so enthusiastically supported. Nope. I hope they all suffer tremendously and eternally. If there is a worse or more permanent way for them to suffer, give me some of that too.
The definition of the word schadenfreude, from Webster’s, is “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.” Sounds like the GOP playbook to me. Didn’t they scream out “let them die!” when asked what should become of someone who loses their insurance through no fault of their own and suddenly needs but can’t afford medical care? Same people who think it’s okay for a young woman to bleed out in a hospital bathroom until she is almost dead before anyone will help her. Same people who think it’s okay to vote for a convicted felon / rapist / racist piece of shit. Same people who believed teachers were cutting off boys wee wees at lunch and immigrants were eating god damn ducks. Same people whose misery I will cheer endlessly when their world goes to shit."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/30/2294452/-MSNBC-columnist-urges-left-not-to-relish-MAGA-fans-misery-Fat-chance
It might be nice to take the high road, but Somerby isn't recognizing that those who voted for Trump have brought this on themselves, including Lily Mosura. Somerby consistently lacks empathy for the left. On what basis can he claim it now, for someone who has decided to switch parties?
I personally won't be extending empathy to anyone on the right who doesn't first (1) recognize what they did wrong, (2) apologize to the rest of us who would never vote for someone like Trump, (3) take off the "fuck your feelings" t-shirts, and (4) switch back to being Democrats. Remorse needs to be genuine.
I will continue to donate to non-profits and vote for the agencies designated to help unfortunate people get back on their feet, whether they want to or not. I won't say they did the right thing, or that they are good decent people with good reasons to vote for Trump, when that isn't true in the current situation. That amounts to asking the left to surrender its integrity by denying our belief in what is right, along with the values of our own party. That isn't going to happen, and if it seems harsh, so has the right been harsh to the unfortunate, forever.
It seems like this press article is suggesting that people voted for Trump because they were poor and wanted hope, but the main body of Trump's support comes from higher income, white male voters, not downtrodden people like those in this article (Dems or not). Most Trump voters didn't support him because they need truck repairs. They supported him because his messages of hate appealed to them, including the ones against women ("Your body, my choice"). These outliers do not typify MAGA.
ReplyDeleteThe most discriminating factor separating Trump and Harris voters was level of education.
DeleteOur Host has chosen his quotable commenters from Kevin's blog narrowly. If you'd like to see the full array, you know what to do: <a href = "https://jabberwocking.com/a-look-at-the-poor-people-who-think-trump-will-help-them/comment-page-1/#comments'>Just click here.</a>
ReplyDeleteBut if you're not so inclined, here are a few Our Host chose not to highlight:
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: Gloating is fun, but do you seriously think that Trump's policies won't apply to us, too? I'm saddened and scared.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: Not gloating. I expect to be hurt, but as a retired upper middle class white male in a solidly blue state I expect I will do a lot better than the sad deplorables in New Castle.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: Unfortunately plenty of Harris voters will also be hurt, as well as plenty of innocent third parties around the world.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTER: This is the psychology messaging war that the Democrats are winning with the college educated, middle class but are tanking with the vibes in the working and lower class.
Throughout the comment thread, many individual commenters make repeat appearances.
Cherries are easy to pick and so yummy! One can find poorly reasoned, ill-considered opinions in any political comment thread, red or blue. Also, on CSPAN. Also, on radio call-in shows.
Do the opinions of these unknown, unaccountable, unvetted commenters tell us anything worth knowing about "Our Blue Tribe"? Our Host keeps telling us they do.
What worries me more is that these commenter opinions are reflections of what passes for political analysis by the prominent and well-known in media, in corporate boardrooms and even in elected office.
I worry less about what other commenters like me write about. I'm way more concerned about what our leaders are saying.
Aw, heck.
DeleteClick here for Drum's comments.
Thank you for the link.
Delete"Speaking of Musk’s kids with several different women, some of whom are his employees, I just learned that most of them have been conceived through IVF and not because of infertility. He says he doesn’t have time for sex and anyway, IVF makes it easier to “control” the pregnancy (by which I assume he means it makes it easier to choose the sex?) Basically, he finds smart women who work for his companies and asks/pays them to bear his offspring to better populate the world with his genius." [Digby]
ReplyDeleteThis newly elected president is a creepy guy. Oh, wait, no one actually voted for President Musk, did they?
"VOTERS: Mosura should get it good and hard!"
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that Somerby chose this headline for today's essay, from many other possibilities. His crassness leaks through his veneer of gentleman blogging. Yes, someone else wrote this in a comment, but Somerby chose to emphasize it. It seems to have leapt out at him and struck his imagination, for some reason.
The protests on campuses after October 7, the reaction to the scumbag who murdered the UHC CEO, the sociopathic non-reaction to the woman lit on fire on the subway and today the man pushed onto the tracks, and the million a year legal killings at abortion clinics tell you everything you need to know about the dark stone-dead hearts of the left in this country. Those comments should shock but they don't. That's why decent people rejected that party.
ReplyDeleteYou might have a point if the left were committing these actions, but we are not.
Delete"the scumbag who murdered the UHC CEO"
DeleteHo-hum.
More anti-Second Amendment calls for gun confiscation by the Right.
They won't say it out loud but Democrats burn with hatred for people like Mosura whose voting actions are seen as undermining the freedom to kill babies. They want people like her dead but not before suffering good and hard.
ReplyDeleteBetter trolling please.
DeleteJC, did you write this?
DeleteSomerby's a Democrat. There's no indication whatsoever that he burns with hatred for people like Mosura. Same goes for Biden, Obama, and most other mainstream Dems. You on the other hand burn with hatred for a whole host of people - gays, asylum seekers, trans people, etc.
DeleteAnd fetuses aren't people. We've had that argument and I know that you secretly agree that if forced to choose between killing a fetus and, say, a five-year-old, you wouldn't kill the five-year-old.
If the five-year-old got an abortion, I’d kill her.
DeleteHer body, her choice. She won’t be 5 forever and she deserves competent health care.
Deletewho knew a five-year-old could get pregnant? maybe it's the holy spirit doin' its thang again. bow chicka wow wow.
DeleteYou wouldn’t think it was funny if you had a woman in your life (or were female). Girls grow up asshole.
Deletei see. so you'd initially save the five-year-old's life. but if she then grew up and had an abortion, you'd travel back in time and spare the fetus. makes sense. what if the fetus grew up and had an abortion, too?
DeleteAny fetus that has an abortion deserves to be aborted.
DeleteThis isn’t funny.
Deletenot even a teensy bit?
DeleteI'm beginning to think Our Host may have a valid point.
ReplyDeleteI am admittedly weary of Our Host's endless harping on the sins of "Our Blue Tribe." Often, I think he ascribes to all Democrats the attitudes of a handful of voices that are loud and extreme but are also anonymous and without any real influence.
But an earlier question about one of the voters mentioned in the Post's story about low-income Trump voters sparked my curiosity. So I did some digging, and that took me deep into a meandering rabbit hole. I gathered a shocking amount of information about the life of one of the story's subjects, spread over more than a decade. (And prompts me to make myself a note to review what I reveal about myself online.)
The person I researched provides a clear example of one of Our Host's favorite refrains: a good and decent person, one who lives an ordinary life filled with beloved family, bad breaks, tough challenges, and normal, everyday concerns.
This person leaves a significant, searchable online paper trail, open for the world to see. That trail rarely, if ever, delves into political matters. It's more concerned with family, friends, jobs, joys, and sorrows.
And yes, this person, in spite of straitened financial circumstances, judged Trump to be the better choice to run the country. Most of us here in this very comment thread seem to think that was a poor decision.
Scroll up. Review our collective analysis of one of those voters' decisions. Then come back and tell me that we have any idea at all why that voter cast a vote for Trump.
Then tell me how our party has tried to convince that voter that we're the better choice.
Our party lost a critical election to a genuinely terrible candidate. In a sane world, heads would roll in our own party for this failure. Instead, we seem to be making a lot of excuses.
Somerby says Trump voters have good reasons. I still don’t know what they are. If you do, please explain them.
DeleteHeads are not rolling because no one can make Harris a white male or make Biden any younger. Dems did their best under sub-optimal conditions. Trump again cheated, as we will discover later. I don’t think I’ve lived through a sane world yet. A person who could consider Trump the better choice is beind my comprehension. Somerby has not explained — maybe you can.
I don’t think I’ve lived through a sane world yet.
DeleteFair point.
Our Host has been promising us his list of reasons why people voted for Trump for almost two months now. I'm not counting on seeing it soon.
DeleteAs for me, I think a lot rides on what people hear or read and where that information comes from. I grew up in what was until recently Matt Gaetz's district. Back in my day, an entirely different conservative operator ruled the roost. I moved away long, long ago.
The people of my old hometown are, as we're endlessly told, good and decent. They get a little information from their local newspaper and a lot more from social media and from one another. If they get any news at all from television, it's probably Fox.
What do you suppose they hear from these information sources? What do they believe Republicans offer the country? What are they told Democrats believe in? Is their information stream tilted and biased? If so, how does that happen? Can anything be done about it?
Intuitively, I fear we're so caught up in partisan warfare that we're yielding the field to the other side.
These good decent people who expect Republicans to solve all their problems are deluded. I don’t believe voting should be centered around one’s personal struggles. It’s what’s best for everyone, as best I can judge that. So, I don’t expect Democrats to solve all my personal problems, either.
DeleteIf you start from the assumption, as Somerby does, that the average American voter isn’t that sharp, you have to educate them on policy 101, Medicare/social security, etc. tell them how Democrats created these things, and why they matter. Tell them how much the gop opposes them, and how their main focus is the wealthy. It’s perfectly valid to point this out. It’s the recognition that people supported the ACA, as long as they didn’t think it was Obamacare. Understand the massive anti-liberal propaganda that operates 24/7, and counteract it vigorously.
Delete"I don’t believe voting should be centered around one’s personal struggles. It’s what’s best for everyone, as best I can judge that."
DeleteOh, I'm so with you.
Voting is masturbation.
Delete@11:55
DeleteI don't follow. Are you for it or against it?
I’m ambivalent.
DeleteI hope Bob and his commenters have a good 2025.
ReplyDeleteGo to hell.
DeleteCome with me.
DeleteHumorist Dave Barry, reviewing the year in today's WaPo:
ReplyDeleteOne theory is that it was not a great idea for Democrats to insist that Biden was fine until it was embarrassingly obvious that he was not, then replace him, via a secret process, with a candidate who was not great at talking and did not run in a single primary and who previously advocated positions that many Americans were not crazy about, which is why they voted, sometimes reluctantly, for Trump.
One branch of the Democratic Party accepts this theory and begins the painful but necessary process of self-examination. Another branch prefers to believe that the party is fine and the real problem is that most Americans are sexist, racist, pro-fascist morons, which might not be a winning message for Democrats going forward, but it does enable this branch to feel better about itself.
Harris won the primaries alongside Biden.
Delete10:14 In six words you have explained why she lost.
DeleteIf Ramaswamy were to pass judgement on Ms. Mosura, he would undoubtedly say that an Indian or Chinese ancestry person would be working 2 jobs and her son would have one in this situation. And barring death, it would be an intact family. And low income people in those ethnic groups would not own gas guzzling F-150’s unless needed for work. They would will themselves to get by and claw their way upwards, and their kid(s) would be nose to the grindstone students, because they have bought into the American dream and the concept that hard work breeds success and that no one owes them anything and that the proper relationship with the world around them is one of humility. And all of this would be as true as the complete disregard for them that the Republican Party has shown them since Reagan.
ReplyDelete